Photos From the Ancient Forest Where Migrants Hide in Fear

This article originally appeared on VICE Germany.

At the border between Poland and Belarus lies the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, one of the last old-growth forests in Europe that’s still largely untouched by humans. For the past two years, migrants from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia have been hiding in the forest while attempting to cross into the EU via Poland. Polish border police are incessantly patrolling these areas, brutalising and banishing anyone they find.

The crisis began in 2021 when Belarus’s president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, relaxed the country’s visa laws, allowing in people with a one-way ticket. The move was largely seen as retaliation against sanctions imposed by the EU after Lukashenko allegedly rigged his win in Belarus’s 2020 elections. Tensions simmered down in 2022, but have recently picked back up after Poland sent 10,000 troops to the area in response to Belarusian invasion into its territory.

For the thousands of people hiding in the forest, living conditions are brutal. In winter, temperatures often drop below zero. People get lost in the forest during their attempts to cross and struggle to find their way back out. Since 2021, at least 48 bodies have been found there. Humanitarian aid and media access to the area have been prohibited by the Polish government.

Despite that, journalists have found ways to report on the crisis, and volunteers help the migrants with food, clothes and medical assistance. Among them is photojournalist Hanna Jarzabek, who worked undercover in the area between August 2022 and May 2023. We asked her about her photo series, The Jungle, and the stories that stuck with her the most.

VICE: Why did you decide to report on the border between Poland and Belarus?
Hanna Jarzabek: I was born in Poland. Right from the start, I noticed the difference in how the government has been treating refugees from Ukraine compared to those crossing from Belarus. While humanitarian organisations can intervene at the Ukrainian border, they have to operate in secret on the Belarusian border. Poland enforces strict immigration policies there.

What do you mean by “strict”?
For context: 1.5 million people came from Ukraine to Poland [since the beginning of the war]. I think it's great that they're receiving help. Close to 40,000 people came from Belarus and are constantly pushed back. The Polish government also built a wall there.

Why help one group and not the other?
I believe it has something to do with ethnicity, culture and religious background.

Who are the people at the border?
Many are fleeing war or poverty. They first go to Russia and then to Belarus, where they get visas – they’re easy to obtain there, as the Belarusian government makes money from them. Then, they drive from Minsk to the border and are told to walk another ten kilometres through the forest. They want to get into the European Union and apply for asylum there. But the Polish border officials stop them. The journey across the Mediterranean is dangerous, but I don’t think people understand how dangerous the old-growth forest can be.

How bad does it get?
Last winter was harsh. Once, I walked through the forest for three hours with two volunteers. One of them was a doctor. We finally reached a Syrian refugee who was severely hypothermic. We changed his damp clothes, but his condition worsened. After two hours, the doctor had to call an ambulance. We weren't sure he would survive the night.

Why wait two hours?
There's no Red Cross or other organisations there. If you call an ambulance, the border police also show up. That’s why refugees have an emergency number to contact volunteers.

What happened after you called?
We waited for four more hours, at -11°C. The rescue team had our coordinates, but when they finally arrived, there was no medical personnel: only border guards and firefighters.

Did the refugee still make it to the hospital?
They put him in the car but never took him there.

How do you know that?
I was really concerned and reached out to the parliament to find out where he was.

Did he survive?
Yes, the officers took him to a migrant camp.

Did you speak with anyone else?
I remember a woman from Iran who had participated in some women’s rights protests. The Iranian government blacklisted her and she had to flee. Technically, she should’ve been eligible for political asylum.

Why wasn’t she?
Polish border guards pushed her back to the Belarusian side [before she could request asylum]. She was with a friend and her husband. During their second attempt, the guards assaulted them and used tear gas. The woman woke up in a Polish hospital, but her husband and friend were missing.

Where were they?
Back in Belarus. It took months for the woman to send a message to her husband and find out he was still alive.

When I spoke with her, someone had taken her into their home in Poland. That's forbidden, but some still do it. We used Google Translate to understand each other. Her stories were dreadful. But what I remember most were her eyes full of fear.

Refusing someone the right to apply for asylum is illegal under international law. Why does it happen anyway?
The border guards don't even ask. If someone brings it up, they ignore it. There are no witnesses or translators. The refugees never get the chance to submit an application – they're pushed back into Belarus. The border guards stomp on their phones and drive them back into the forest without GPS. You could say the border police are sending people to their deaths. 

Have you ever been caught by the border guards?
Yes, when I was photographing the wall, 186 kilometres of steel and barbed wire. But I pretended I was a tourist, and since I maintained the required distance from the wall, they couldn't take any action other than asking questions. I can't believe that about 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, another wall is dividing Europe.

Does the wall actually stop refugees?
Well, it's five-and-a-half metres tall and topped with barbed wire, but people still climb over it. They fall down on the Polish side and break their legs and feet. Poland is creating more costs for itself because these people then need to go to hospital.

Do you also know stories with a happy ending?
I've heard from people who are in safe places, who made it to Germany or found their relatives in the EU.

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This photo report was funded with the help of Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU).